KR20200132231A - Method for fabricating thermoelectric element and thermoelectric element and thermoelectric module made thereby - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a thermoelectric element, the thermoelectric element and a thermoelectric module manufactured thereby, wherein the method of manufacturing the thermoelectric element according to one embodiment of the present invention includes: a molding step of molding an extruded material (10) in the form of an ingot; a cutting step of cutting the extruded material (10) into a unit material (20) after forming an insulating film (11) on the side surface of the extruded material (10); and a forming step of forming a diffusion barrier layer (21) on the cut surface of the unit material (20) to manufacture the thermoelectric element (30). According to the present invention, the extruded material having the same cross-sectional area as that of the thermoelectric element is manufactured, and the thermoelectric element is manufactured using the same, thereby increasing production yield of the thermoelectric element.

Description

Thermoelectric device manufacturing method, thermoelectric device and thermoelectric module manufactured therefrom {METHOD FOR FABRICATING THERMOELECTRIC ELEMENT AND THERMOELECTRIC ELEMENT AND THERMOELECTRIC MODULE MADE THEREBY}

The present invention relates to a thermoelectric device manufacturing method, a thermoelectric device and a thermoelectric module using the same, and more particularly, to manufacture an extruded material having the same cross-sectional area as a thermoelectric device, and to manufacture a thermoelectric device using the same, thereby increasing the yield of thermoelectric device manufacturing. For, it relates to a thermoelectric device manufacturing method, a thermoelectric device and a thermoelectric module using the same.

In addition, the present invention relates to a thermoelectric device manufacturing method, a thermoelectric device using the same, and a thermoelectric module for manufacturing a thermoelectric material sintered body 40, and manufacturing a thermoelectric device using the same to increase a thermoelectric device manufacturing yield.

The thermoelectric phenomenon is a phenomenon that occurs by the movement of electrons and holes in a material, and means direct energy conversion between heat and electricity.

The thermoelectric module is a generic term for a device using a thermoelectric phenomenon and has a structure in which a P-type thermoelectric element and an N-type thermoelectric element are bonded between metal electrodes to form a PN junction pair.

The thermoelectric module can be divided into a device that uses a temperature change of electrical resistance, a device that uses the Seebeck effect, which is a phenomenon in which an electromotive force is generated due to a temperature difference, and a device that uses the Peltier effect, which is a phenomenon in which heat absorption or heat generation by current occurs. .

Thermoelectric modules are variously applied to home appliances, electronic parts, and communication parts. For example, a thermoelectric device may be applied to a cooling device, a heating device, a power generation device, and the like, and a thermoelectric device having flexibility may be applied to various structures having curved surfaces. Accordingly, the demand for thermoelectric performance of the thermoelectric device is increasing more and more.

Currently, a thermoelectric device applied to a commercial Bismuth Telluride (Bi ₂ Te ₃ ) (ie, Bi-Te-based) thermoelectric module is manufactured by the process shown in FIG. 1. 1 is a diagram illustrating a process of manufacturing a rectangular parallelepiped type thermoelectric element from an ingot type thermoelectric material.

Specifically, when a thermoelectric device is manufactured using an ingot-type thermoelectric material, both ends of the ingot having non-uniform thermoelectric performance are removed. In this case, about 20% of the total thermoelectric material is removed.

Next, a wafer is manufactured through slicing according to the thickness of the thermoelectric element. In this case, 13% is removed again, leaving 67% of the total thermoelectric material.

Next, diffusion barrier layers are coated on both sides of the wafer.

Next, the wafer coated with the diffusion barrier layer is diced according to the area of the thermoelectric element. In this case, 12% is removed again, leaving 55% of the total thermoelectric material.

Finally, a thermoelectric element is manufactured through sorting. In this case, 15% is removed, leaving 40% of the total thermoelectric material, and the process of manufacturing a rectangular parallelepiped thermoelectric element from an ingot-type thermoelectric material yields 40%.

As described above, since n-type and p-type Bi-Te-based thermoelectric devices used in thermoelectric modules require several stages of processing after manufacturing ingots, the yield of thermoelectric devices is significantly reduced.

In addition, the thermoelectric device manufactured in this way undergoes several stages of processing, and condensation may occur depending on the external environment, resulting in performance degradation, or damage to the thermoelectric material from external impurities.

Accordingly, the thermoelectric device needs to reduce the number of processing steps for cutting the thermoelectric material over several steps to improve manufacturing yield, and to eliminate performance degradation factors that may occur during various processes.

Korean Registered Patent Publication No. 10-1051010 (2011.07.15)

An object of the present invention is to provide a thermoelectric device manufacturing method, a thermoelectric device and a thermoelectric module using the same, for manufacturing an extruded material having the same cross-sectional area as a thermoelectric device, and manufacturing a thermoelectric device using the same to increase the yield of manufacturing the thermoelectric device. .

In addition, another object of the present invention relates to a thermoelectric device manufacturing method, a thermoelectric device and a thermoelectric module using the same for manufacturing a thermoelectric material sintered body, and manufacturing a thermoelectric device using the same to increase the manufacturing yield of the thermoelectric device.

A method of manufacturing a thermoelectric device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a molding step of forming an extruded material 10 in the form of an ingot; A cutting step of cutting the extruded material 10 into a unit material 20 after forming the insulating film 11 on the side surface of the extruded material 10; And a forming step of manufacturing the thermoelectric device 30 by forming the diffusion barrier layer 21 on the cut surface of the unit material 20.

The extruded material 10 may be one whose composition is determined according to the type of the thermoelectric element 30.

The extruded material 10 may have a circular or polygonal cross-sectional shape.

The extruded material 10 may be made by pressing the powder body into a rod shape through an extruder and then heating and sintering it.

The cutting step may be to generate the unit material 20 by cutting the extruded material 10 to the height of the thermoelectric element 30 while moving the extruded material 10 in the longitudinal direction.

The cross-sectional area of the extruded material 10 may be the same as the cross-sectional area of the thermoelectric element 30.

The forming step may include forming the diffusion barrier layer 21 through barrel plating in which the unit material 20 is injected into a barrel containing a diffusion barrier plating solution and the cut surface is plated with the diffusion barrier plating solution. .

In addition, a method of manufacturing a thermoelectric device according to another embodiment of the present invention includes a molding step of forming a sintered body of thermoelectric material 40; A first cutting step of cutting the thermoelectric material sintered body 40 to form a slicing material 41; A second cutting step of cutting the slicing material 41 into a unit material 50 after forming the insulating film 42 on the side surface of the slicing material 41; And a forming step of forming a diffusion barrier layer 51 on the cut surface of the unit material 50 to manufacture the thermoelectric device 60.

The thermoelectric material sintered body 40 may be one whose composition is determined according to the type of the thermoelectric element 60.

The thermoelectric material sintered body 40 may be formed by pressing a powder body into a wafer shape and then heating it to sinter it.

The first cutting step may include slicing the thermoelectric material sintered body 40 in one direction and processing it into a slicing material 41 having a rectangular cross-section.

The second cutting step may be to generate the unit material 50 by cutting the slicing material 41 to the height of the thermoelectric element 60 while moving the slicing material 41 in the longitudinal direction.

The cross-sectional area of the slicing material may be the same as that of the thermoelectric element.

The forming step may include forming the diffusion barrier layer 51 through barrel plating in which the unit material 50 is injected into a barrel containing a diffusion barrier plating solution and the surface is plated with the diffusion barrier plating solution. .

According to the present invention, an extruded material having the same cross-sectional area as that of a thermoelectric element is manufactured, and a thermoelectric element is manufactured using the same, thereby increasing the production yield of the thermoelectric element.

In addition, another object of the present invention is to manufacture a thermoelectric material sintered body, and to manufacture a thermoelectric device using the same, it is possible to increase the production yield of the thermoelectric device.

1 is a diagram illustrating a process of manufacturing a rectangular parallelepiped-shaped thermoelectric element from an ingot-shaped thermoelectric material;
2 is a diagram illustrating a method of manufacturing a thermoelectric device according to an embodiment of the present invention;
3 is a diagram illustrating a method of manufacturing a thermoelectric device according to another embodiment of the present invention;
4 is a view showing a thermoelectric module using a thermoelectric device manufactured according to the method of FIG. 2;
5 is a diagram illustrating a thermoelectric module using a thermoelectric element manufactured according to the method of FIG. 3.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, in the following description and the accompanying drawings, detailed descriptions of known functions or configurations that may obscure the subject matter of the present invention will be omitted. In addition, it should be noted that the same components throughout the drawings are indicated by the same reference numerals as much as possible.

The terms or words used in the present specification and claims described below should not be construed as being limited to a conventional or dictionary meaning, and the inventors are appropriately defined as terms for describing their own invention in the best way. It should be interpreted as a meaning and concept consistent with the technical idea of the present invention based on the principle that it can be done.

Therefore, the embodiments described in the present specification and the configurations shown in the drawings are only the most preferred embodiments of the present invention, and do not represent all the technical ideas of the present invention, and thus various alternatives that can be substituted for them at the time of application It should be understood that there may be equivalents and variations.

In the accompanying drawings, some components are exaggerated, omitted, or schematically illustrated, and the size of each component does not entirely reflect the actual size. The invention is not limited by the relative size or spacing drawn in the accompanying drawings.

When a part of the specification is said to "include" a certain component, it means that other components may be further included rather than excluding other components unless otherwise stated. Further, when a part is said to be "connected" with another part, this includes not only the case of being "directly connected" but also the case of being "electrically connected" with another element interposed therebetween.

Singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Terms such as “comprise” or “have” are intended to designate the presence of features, numbers, steps, actions, components, parts, or combinations of these described in the specification, but one or more other features, numbers, or steps. It is to be understood that it does not preclude the possibility of the presence or addition of, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those of ordinary skill in the art may easily implement the present invention. However, the present invention may be implemented in various different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein. In the drawings, parts irrelevant to the description are omitted in order to clearly describe the present invention, and similar reference numerals are assigned to similar parts throughout the specification.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2 is a diagram illustrating a method of manufacturing a thermoelectric device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in Figure 2, the thermoelectric device manufacturing method according to an embodiment of the present invention, a similar type (similar type) extruded thermoelectric material (ie, extruded material) 10 having the same cross-sectional area as the thermoelectric device, By using this, the thermoelectric device 30 may be manufactured to increase the manufacturing yield of the thermoelectric device.

First, in step S1, the extruded material 10 having the same cross-sectional area as the thermoelectric element to be manufactured is molded through an extruder.

The composition of the extruded material 10 is determined according to the type of the thermoelectric element. That is, the extruded material 10 is formed of a composition component for manufacturing an n-type thermoelectric device including an n-type semiconductor material or a p-type thermoelectric device including a p-type semiconductor material. For example, n-type thermoelectric devices include selenium (Se), nickel (Ni), aluminum (Al), copper (Cu), silver (Ag), lead (Pb), boron (B), gallium (Ga), and tell. Materials made of bismuth telluride (BiTe) including lulium (Te), bismuth (Bi), and indium (In) are included, and the p-type thermoelectric device is antimony (Sb), nickel (Ni), and aluminum (Al). , Copper (Cu), silver (Ag), lead (Pb), boron (B), gallium (Ga), tellurium (Te), bismuth (Bi), bismuth telluride (BiTe) including indium (In) ) May be included.

The extruded material 10 is made by pressing the powder body into an appropriate shape (here, a rod shape) through an extruder, followed by heating and sintering. At this time, the extruded material 10 may have a circular or polygonal cross-sectional shape.

Next, step S2 forms an insulating film 11 on the side of the extruded material 10.

Since the extruded material 10 contains an n-type or p-type semiconductor material, it has electrical conductivity on its surface, so that an insulating film 11 is formed on the surface for electrical insulation. Here, the insulating layer 11 may be formed through a dry process (eg, PECVD) or a wet process (eg, spin coating), and may be, for example, a thin film such as SiO ₂ , Si ₃ N ₄ , or SiON.

Next, in step S3, the extruded material 10 on which the insulating film 11 is formed is cut (or sliced) so as to have the height of the thermoelectric element to produce a unit material 20. That is, step S3 is a cutting step, and the extruded material 10 is cut to the height of the thermoelectric element while moving along the length direction to generate the unit material 20.

Here, the height of the thermoelectric element corresponds to the height of the unit material 20 to be described later, and corresponds to the gap between the metal electrodes formed at the upper and lower portions when the thermoelectric module is formed. As such, the size of the unit material 20 corresponds to the size of the thermoelectric element.

In FIG. 2, one extruded material 10 is made of a plurality of unit materials 20 in a cylindrical shape.

Through the processing step of step S3, the side surface of the unit material 20 is maintained in a state in which the insulating film 11 is formed, and the upper and lower surfaces are cut surfaces formed through cutting processing. As such, the insulating layer 11 is not formed on the upper and lower surfaces of the unit material 20.

The insulating film 11 formed on the side of the unit material 20 is in charge of sealing airtightly so that moisture cannot penetrate, so that the side of the unit material 20 is formed even if it is immersed in the diffusion barrier plating solution in step S4. It doesn't work.

On the other hand, the top and bottom surfaces of the unit material 20 correspond to the surfaces in direct contact with the electrodes of FIGS. 4 and 5 to be described later, so that the diffusion barrier layer needs to be formed, and is immersed in the diffusion barrier plating solution in step S4. When doing so, the diffusion barrier layer 21 is formed.

Through this, when the unit material 20 formed through the steps S2 and S3 is immersed in the diffusion barrier plating solution in the step S4, plating is selectively performed only on the portion where the diffusion barrier is to be formed. Accordingly, after step S4, the process of removing the diffusion barrier layer formed on the side of the unit material 20 is not required.

As described above, in step S4, the diffusion barrier layer 21 is formed on the cut surface (ie, the upper and lower surfaces) of the unit material 20. Here, the diffusion barrier plating solution may be one of nickel (Ni), titanium (Ti), or a mixed alloy material. The diffusion preventing layer 21 is formed to prevent degradation of thermoelectric performance due to diffusion of substances between thermoelectric materials.

Step S4 is carried out through barrel plating. In the barrel plating, a plurality of unit materials 20 are injected into a barrel containing the diffusion barrier plating solution, and then power is applied to the rotating barrel. The cut surface of the material 20 is plated at the same time. As described above, since the insulating layer 11 is formed on the side surface of the unit material 20, the diffusion barrier layer 21 is not formed.

Next, in step S5, after forming the diffusion barrier layer 21 on the cut surface of the unit material 20, impurities or foreign substances are removed to finally manufacture the thermoelectric device 30.

In this way, loss of the material occurs by cutting the extruded material 10 through slicing only in step S3 described above. That is, in an embodiment of the present invention, since material loss occurs only in step S3 of steps S1 to S5, it can be seen that the manufacturing yield of the thermoelectric device can be increased to 80% or more when considering the manufacturing yield of FIG. .

3 is a diagram illustrating a method of manufacturing a thermoelectric device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3, in a method of manufacturing a thermoelectric device according to another embodiment of the present invention, a thermoelectric material sintered body 40 is manufactured, and a thermoelectric device is manufactured using the sintered body 40, thereby increasing a thermoelectric device manufacturing yield.

First, in step S11, the thermoelectric material sintered body 40 is formed. Like the extruded material 10 described above, the thermoelectric material sintered body 40 determines the composition of the thermoelectric material according to the type of the thermoelectric element. That is, the thermoelectric material sintered body 40 is formed of a composition for manufacturing an n-type thermoelectric device including an n-type semiconductor material or a p-type thermoelectric device including a p-type semiconductor material. For example, n-type thermoelectric devices include selenium (Se), nickel (Ni), aluminum (Al), copper (Cu), silver (Ag), lead (Pb), boron (B), gallium (Ga), and tell. Materials made of bismuth telluride (BiTe) including lulium (Te), bismuth (Bi), and indium (In) are included, and the p-type thermoelectric device is antimony (Sb), nickel (Ni), and aluminum (Al). , Copper (Cu), silver (Ag), lead (Pb), boron (B), gallium (Ga), tellurium (Te), bismuth (Bi), bismuth telluride (BiTe) including indium (In) ) May be included.

The thermoelectric material sintered body 40 is made by pressing, for example, a powder body into a suitable shape (here, a wafer shape), followed by heating and sintering.

Next, in step S12, a plurality of slicing materials 41 are generated by slicing the sintered body 40 of the thermoelectric material in the form of a wafer in one direction. Step S12 corresponds to the first cutting step.

The slicing material 41 corresponds to the extruded material 10 described above, has a rectangular cross-sectional shape, and is formed in a rod shape in the slicing direction (ie, the length direction). That is, the cross-sectional area of the slicing material 41 is the same as the cross-sectional area of the thermoelectric element. Here, the cross-sectional area of the thermoelectric element is the area of the cut surface of the unit material 50 to be described later, and corresponds to the area of the surface bonded to the metal electrode when forming the thermoelectric module.

Next, in step S13, an insulating film 42 is formed on the side of the slicing material 41. Here, since the description of the insulating layer 42 is redundant with that described above, a detailed description will be omitted.

Next, in step S14, the slicing material 41 on which the insulating film 42 is formed is cut again to have the height of the thermoelectric element, thereby generating the unit material 50. Step S14 corresponds to the second cutting step. That is, in step S14, the unit material 50 is generated with the height of the thermoelectric element while moving the slicing material 41 along the length direction.

Here, the height of the thermoelectric element corresponds to the height of the unit material 50, and corresponds to a gap between metal electrodes formed at the upper and lower portions of the thermoelectric module.

As such, the size of the unit material 50 corresponds to the size of the thermoelectric element.

In FIG. 3, one slicing material 41 is made of a plurality of unit materials 50 in a rectangular parallelepiped shape.

Next, in step S15, the diffusion preventing layer 51 is formed on the cut surface (ie, the upper and lower surfaces) of the unit material 50. Step S15 proceeds through barrel plating, and a detailed description thereof is duplicated as described above, and thus a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Next, in step S16, after forming the diffusion barrier layer 51 on the cut surface of the unit material 50, impurities or foreign substances are removed to finally manufacture the thermoelectric device 60.

Meanwhile, loss of material occurs through slicing in steps S12 and S14 described above. That is, in another embodiment of the present invention, since material loss occurs twice in steps S12 and S14 among steps S11 to S16, the manufacturing yield of the thermoelectric device is reduced to 40 when comparing the processing process three or more times in FIG. You can expect more than %.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a thermoelectric module using a thermoelectric device manufactured according to the method of FIG. 2, and FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a thermoelectric module using a thermoelectric device manufactured according to the method of FIG. 3.

4 and 5, the Bi-Te-based thermoelectric module forms a PN junction pair by bonding a p-type thermoelectric element and an n-type thermoelectric element manufactured according to the method of FIGS. 2 and 3 between metal electrodes. . The diffusion barrier layers formed on the top and bottom surfaces of the p-type thermoelectric element and the n-type thermoelectric element are bonded to the metal electrodes through the bonding layer. Further, each of the metal electrodes formed on the upper and lower portions is bonded to an upper insulating substrate and a lower insulating substrate made of a ceramic material.

Although the above description has been described with focus on the novel features of the present invention applied to various embodiments, those skilled in the art will have the above-described apparatus and method without departing from the scope of the present invention. It will be appreciated that various deletions, substitutions, and changes are possible in the form and detail of a. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims rather than by the above description. All modifications within the equivalent range of the claims are included in the scope of the present invention.

10; Extruded material 11,42; Insulating film
20,50; Unit material 21,51; Diffusion barrier layer
30,60; Thermoelectric element 40; Thermoelectric material sintered body
41; Slicing material

Claims (16)

A molding step of molding the extruded material 10 in the form of an ingot;
A cutting step of cutting the extruded material 10 into a unit material 20 after forming the insulating film 11 on the side surface of the extruded material 10; And
A forming step of manufacturing a thermoelectric device 30 by forming a diffusion barrier layer 21 on the cut surface of the unit material 20;
Thermoelectric device manufacturing method comprising a.
The method of claim 1,
The extruded material 10,
The method of manufacturing a thermoelectric device in which a composition component is determined according to the type of the thermoelectric device 30.
The method of claim 1,
The extruded material 10,
A method of manufacturing a thermoelectric device having a circular or polygonal cross-sectional shape.
The method of claim 1,
The extruded material 10,
A method of manufacturing a thermoelectric device by pressing the powder body into a rod shape through an extruder and then heating and sintering it.
The method of claim 1,
The cutting step,
The method of manufacturing a thermoelectric device by cutting the extruded material (10) to the height of the thermoelectric device (30) while moving in the longitudinal direction to generate the unit material (20).
The method of claim 1,
The cross-sectional area of the extruded material 10 is,
The method of manufacturing a thermoelectric device that is the same as the cross-sectional area of the thermoelectric device 30.
The method of claim 1,
The forming step,
The method of manufacturing a thermoelectric device, wherein the diffusion barrier layer 21 is formed through barrel plating in which the unit material 20 is injected into a barrel containing a diffusion barrier plating solution and the cut surface is plated with the diffusion barrier plating solution.
A forming step of forming the thermoelectric material sintered body 40;
A first cutting step of cutting the thermoelectric material sintered body 40 to form a slicing material 41;
A second cutting step of cutting the slicing material 41 into a unit material 50 after forming the insulating film 42 on the side surface of the slicing material 41; And
A forming step of manufacturing a thermoelectric device 60 by forming a diffusion barrier layer 51 on the cut surface of the unit material 50;
Thermoelectric device manufacturing method comprising a.
The method of claim 8,
The thermoelectric material sintered body 40,
The method of manufacturing a thermoelectric device, wherein the composition component is determined according to the type of the thermoelectric device 60.
The method of claim 8,
The thermoelectric material sintered body 40,
A method of manufacturing a thermoelectric device that is made by pressing the powder body into a wafer shape and then heating and sintering.
The method of claim 8,
The first cutting step,
The method of manufacturing a thermoelectric device by slicing the thermoelectric material sintered body 40 in one direction to form a slicing material 41 having a rectangular cross section.
The method of claim 8,
The second cutting step,
The method of manufacturing a thermoelectric device by cutting the slicing material (41) to the height of the thermoelectric device (60) while moving the slicing material (41) in the longitudinal direction to generate the unit material (50).
The method of claim 8,
The cross-sectional area of the slicing material is,
The method of manufacturing a thermoelectric device that is the same as the cross-sectional area of the thermoelectric device.
The method of claim 8,
The forming step,
The method of manufacturing a thermoelectric device, wherein the diffusion barrier layer 51 is formed through barrel plating in which the unit material 50 is injected into a barrel containing a diffusion barrier plating solution and the surface is plated with the diffusion barrier plating solution.
A thermoelectric device manufactured by the thermoelectric device manufacturing method according to any one of claims 1 to 14.
A thermoelectric module for forming a PN junction pair by bonding a p-type thermoelectric device and an n-type thermoelectric device manufactured by the thermoelectric device manufacturing method according to any one of claims 1 to 14 between metal electrodes.

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